#58 Persuading.

"Don't say that you didn't anticipate that he will try to ask me for my help. I understand that you want him to learn his lesson but you are sacrificing possibly a lot of Class points." Yuichi said in a serious tone.

"His attitude is a problem and it will be a problem in the future, he needs to be punished, maybe expulsion wouldn't be that bad after all. We might lose a lot of Class points, possibly all of them but we can always start anew, we have 3 whole years and we are already slowly catching up to Class C." Horikita replied with an uninterested expression.

"I don't think so, he has his perks and skills. We are just supposed to help him remove his faults like his attitude." Yuichi said confidently.

"Skills? Do you mean his athletic ability? I admit that he is physically very capable but how is that going to help us overtake other classes?" Horikita disagreed with his opinion.

"You keep having that narrowed view...Even Chabashira-sensei mentioned that academics aren't everything here and I highly doubt it's also only about attitude and socializing. Sudo practically fails at everything except for sports, yet he was admitted into this school. I believe that the time will come where physically able students will overweight the value of students with perfect academics. Otherwise, this entire school's system would be completely useless and wasted." Yuichi backed up Sudo's value.

"...You know- Ayanokoji-kun said something similar when I turned Sudo-kun away with his request." Horikita said while glancing at Yuichi suspiciously.

"Is that so? Doesn't that mean that we are most likely right and you are wrong?" Yuichi asked with a provoking smile.

"Not necessarily but I get your point, nevertheless that doesn't change a thing about the fact that you know more about Sudo-kun's case than you let out." Horikita said with a serious expression.

"Alright, if I tell you what I know, will you help Sudo?" Yuichi asked with an inviting expression.

"...Maybe, depending on your information."

"Alright, I am the eyewitness all our classmates are looking for" Yuichi said in low voice, making Horikita widen her eyes in surprise.

"Why didn't you say anything? Isn't Sudo-kun your friend?" She immediately asked with a slightly shocked expression.

"He is, but stepping forward with no evidence is useless. They won't take the word of someone from the same class as the assailant seriously. Still, I can tell you that Sudo wasn't the one who started the entire brawl." Yuichi said.

"By the way, did you mention something about catching up to the Class C?" Yuichi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, what about it?" Horikita nodded, agreeing with his reasoning...if he has no evidence, he would be practically useless, before she asked with a confused expression.

"Have you forgotten thanks to whom we managed to save so many points? Don't you think that you are a bit too selfish, wanting to abandon all people's efforts just for teaching Sudo a "lesson"?" Yuichi asked with a frowned expression when they finally arrived at the school building.

"Are you trying to use everyone against me? That's not going to work, I don't care about their effort and I won't care even if they will start to hate me, there won't be much difference anyway." Horikita replied with a confident smile.

"Use everyone against you? Not at all, but I know how much you want to get to Class A, unfortunately, you won't be able to get there without everyone's cooperation, not to mention if someone will even try to obstruct your way from inside...that would truly be unfortunate" Yuichi said with a bright oblivious smile.

Horikita narrowed her eyes upon hearing his words.

"Are you trying to blackmail me? What makes you think that I want to get to Class A so much that I would even agree to this?" She sounded quite pissed.

"Nothing like that, I just say that you will need everyone's cooperation. And of course, you want to get to Class A to get your brother's recognition." Yuichi replied with a bit confused expression as if he just used the wrong words in his sentence before confidently mentioning her brother.

"Wha-?" Horikita stopped walking as she had a shocked expression on her face.

"Hm?" Yuichi who already took a few steps ahead of her noticed that she stopped so he glanced behind at her shocked expression.

"Let's do our best to advance our class, Horikita-san!" Yuichi said with a bright smile and closed eyes.

'He...He can be quite aggressive and sharp when the one isn't careful around him.' Horikita thought with a cautious expression. This moment also reminded her of Yuichi's moment of anger at the library which prompted her to truly reconsider if he was truly angry at that time.

"How do you know my brother?" After Horikita woke up from her thoughts, she caught up to Yuichi and asked with a serious expression.

"I have had the chance to meet him a few times on some occasions." Yuichi just replied in a way that didn't Horikita much information but when she tried to ask for more, Yuichi pled ignorance.

When they arrived at their classroom and the bell rang, starting another homeroom, Chabashira informed them about the situation and once again tried to ask for eyewitnesses which prompted Yuichi to glance towards Sakura who seemingly wanted to say something but she was most likely too afraid to say anything in front of so many people.

Chabashira also mentioned the matter with buying a spot in one of the classes with Private points which made Yuichi click his tongue due to leaning that his question was practically wasted if she was planning to tell them this information from the beginning. She also mentioned how students can obtain points through club activities, asking if anyone had a chance to do that, making everyone turn at Yuichi due to Sudo's information from the very first day.

"Eh? There haven't been any tournaments yet, only practices so no, I also haven't got any points from my club activities yet." Yuichi shrugged his shoulders and said honestly.

'Another information that was withheld from us but it's not like it wasn't obvious from the start when we had our first swimming class where our P.E. teacher mentioned points for finishing in the first place. Not to mention, everyone kept mentioning how academics aren't everything in this school, of course, they will reward capable people in other fields, not everyone can be talented in academics.' Yuichi thought as the commotion broke out and everyone started questioning Chabashira-sensei for not mentioning this much earlier.

He also noticed a few jealous looks from his classmates but he just shrugged them off.

.

.

.

During the break, Yuichi overheard Ayanokoji justifying why Horikita should save Sudo by mentioning the club.

"Even if he is a candidate to be a regular on the team, I doubt he would spend his points meaningfully." Horikita was still reluctant to help but it was visible that she was slowly giving up when both Yuichi and Ayanokoji kept trying to change her opinion.

"That's not true, I actually believe that Sudo spends his points at least more effectively than Ike, Yamauchi, or Sotomura." Yuichi turned around and mentioned, making both Ayanokoji and Horikita turn at him.

"Also, I can confirm that our advisor was seriously considering putting Sudo to the regulars. Although there are already more than enough people, anyone can hurt themselves or someone might need to be swapped during the game. He will definitely be selected if this case is resolved...that is if he won't be punished." Yuichi continued with his forearm resting on the back of the chair.

"It will be hard for him to continue playing if he will be punished, huh?" Ayanokoji muttered but it sounded as if he was trying to pressure Horikita which indeed made her glance towards him.

"Indeed, he might become really unstable if he won't be able to play basketball anymore...It's in our best interest to help him clear his name." Yuichi nodded towards Ayanokoji which prompted Horikita to frown down.

"Uh, fine...I will see what I can do." Horikita replied with a slightly defeated expression.

Hearing her answer, Yuichi and Ayanokoji looked into each other's eyes as if to say "Got her" before breaking it off and playing ignorance.

"Is that so? That's really nice of you" Yuichi said with a smile.

"You two-!...*sigh* Forget it" Horikita wanted to say something but she just shook her head.

Horikita got up from her seat and strode behind Sakura who just walked out of the classroom which made Yuichi frown down

Yuichi quickly followed after Horikita but even before he walked out of the classroom, he could hear someone groan before he heard something crashing on the ground. When he finally got out of the classroom, he noticed Sakura on her knees, holding her digital camera and one boy from their class sitting on the cold floor right in front of her. He looked towards Horikita who seemed quite surprised by the turn of events.

"I-I am sorry!" Sakura apologized to the boy in front of her who was still a bit in daze before she got up and ran away.

"What the hell happened? You walked out of the classroom for 3 seconds and there are already 2 people on the ground..." Yuichi hurriedly asked with a confused expression.

"I tried to confront Sakura about that 'matter' but she panicked and tried to run away. You can figure out what happened next..." She replied, still with a bit surprised expression.